HTC Plant Limited crane drivers are very angry as a result of the firm's bullying ways.

Construction union UCATT are currently balloting members for industrial action in a pay dispute as a result of the company refusing to restore wages to the levels that workers received in 2008.

The drivers rejected the company's offer of a 3% pay increase earlier this year.

Rather than return to the negotiating table the company has instead tried to bully the workforce by imposing the 3% pay offer. HTC tried to justify imposing the pay increase by citing a consultation they conducted, where they excluded 70% of the workforce (union members were denied a vote) from the ballot and counted workers who did not vote as accepting the offer.

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Steve Murphy, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "HTC's industrial relations resemble the attitude of a tin pot dictator. They have totally misunderstood the strength of feeling among our members. By imposing a pay offer which fails to meet our member's expectations, they have poked a hornet’s nest of ill feeling."

If the crane drivers vote for industrial action, strikes could result, resulting in high profile sites such as Crossrail and the London Bridge redevelopment coming to a standstill.

(CD/MH)